|
February 10, 2011 |
A-Bee Honey & Costanza Orchards |
|
Honey
Our honey is produced in various yards throughout New Mexico and Colorado. Our primary yards are in Albuquerque, Belen, Edgewood and Taos
Bumble bees, yellow jackets, paper wasps, ground nesting bees and honey bees
|
BEE LOSSES In New Mexico and many surrounding states the cold weather for the first week of February 2011 was close to record temperatures. Albuquerque saw lows of -6 degrees F, while in Edgewood I recorded -25 degrees F on our high/low thermometer for Thursday, February 3rd. From Tuesday February 1st until Friday the 4th our day time highs did not get above freezing. Then again Tuesday the 8th the temperature dropped rapidly and Wednesday the 9th we were -12 degrees F. This makes it difficult for bees to break cluster and move horizontally to retrieve honey. All they can do is move upwards between the combs in mass. If you have no honey stores above the cluster in prolonged cold spells such as this you will see your hives die of starvation even though the hive maybe full of honey. It is important to keep the honey reserves above the cluster in cold weather.
We expect to have nice weather as early as Friday, February 11th until next week with Sunday possibly being one of the nicest days for looking at your bees. I will be checking mine and adding more protein patties to add supplemental feeding for the bees and to stimulate brood rearing. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) is paying $125.00 per hive if you have bee losses. You do not have to have insurance to qualify. Read the following: USDA ELAP Program Sign-up Underway For Honey Bee Producers. Eligible producers who lost honey bees, honey bee hives or harvested and purchased feed due to adverse weather on or after Jan. 1, 2008 and before Oct. 1, 2011, can now sign up for the USDA Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP). To read the rest of this story go to: USDA ELAP Natural Cures Doctors Forgot to Tell Us. The following was a newsletter I received from Clint Walker at Walker Honey Farm in Rogers, TX. Louella and I visited Clint's farm store on our way to the North American Beekeepers Conference in Galveston, TX last month. We were very impressed with their store and honey processing operation. Clint was one of the main speakers at the conference that Friday. I have copied and pasted a portion of their monthly newsletter below. Please take time to look over his webpage. We are carrying several of their products on our web page. I like the article on "Natural Cures Doctors Forgot to Tell Us"
Last year I had some calls from new beekeepers having trouble installing multiple packages in one location. It seemed that the bees were flying every where and then when they finally did settle they were not balanced out in the various hives. A few hives had an over abundance of bees and other hives had very few bees. Here are several discussions from BEE-L about Installing Queens. Before you read BEE-L find out what BEE-L is:
From BEE-L on Installing Queens: I agree. "Normal" installation of packages in warm temperatures in daylight is asking for trouble. However, it can be done with great success. On April 12 I installed 100 packages into nucs during the day. Temps were in the mid 50's to start and ended up in the mid 70's. I learned 30+ years ago from an 'old timer' that the way to do it was to dunk them in a tub. Most advice says to spray with warm water. IMHO, that is not enough and I have tried. We remove the feeder can and the queen, put the board back on the feeder can opening, hold it there with fingers, shake the bees to the bottom of the package, and submerge it in 60-70 degree water for 5 seconds or so. Drain for perhaps 15 seconds, and then shake into the box. Put the queen in with an open hole, or fold the screen on the cage back in half. As of this morning, lots of orientation flights in the yards. We will look at the bees in about a week and expect to see lots of brood and little to no dead bees on the bottom. Been doing it this way for many years. The only time we do not dunk is when the temps are in the 40's or lower. But then the bees are in such a cluster that they won't fly! Lloyd *********************************************** I learned all of my beekeeping from a commercial beekeeper in eastern MT who produced all of his own queens for a 3000 colony operation. He preferred to use press in cages for queen introduction. He also didn't like taking a chance that the queen would fly off as he was transferring her in to the cage. I had ordered some sister queens, hand inseminated to the same drone line. We introduced all of them with 100% success. He also used the water trick. A glass of warm water sitting on the frames. Take queen cage with queen, submerge her, pop the cork, and let her walk out on the comb. Worked well, with no obvious harm to the queen. Jerry *********************************************** Alarming plight of bees spurs hobbyists’ interestGrowing number of area residents explore starting own hives.Honey Bee Virus Sampling Information and Some Casual Observations Regarding Essential Oils and Viruses
End of the Road for Almond Pollination? Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are developing self-pollinating almond trees that can produce a bountiful harvest without insect pollination.
Almond Pollination: The following is an ad placed by an almond grower in California for bees to be delivered for a pollination contract. As you prepare for 2011 you might want to consider the following response by a commercial beekeeper:
Farmer Markets for the Spring and Summer
Archives of old, out of print beekeeping books and books on all aspects of gardening, farming and horticulture. There has a tremendous volume of books that have been digitized and placed on the internet. We have include in this newsletter and also in our website some old favorites available for reading or downloading to your computer. We will also address how to find where these books, magazines and publications can be found.
Seeds of Change Seed Give-away and
Dixon Seed Exchange form an Alliance
THANKS FOR A GREAT SEASON: Most farmers' markets around the state are now closed for the season. To find out the opening dates for your local markets, check our market list. The following markets will be open for Winter:
New: The Hibernation Diet: A spoonful of honey before bed will help burn off fat while you sleep. The hibernation diet promises to help people lose weight while they sleep. Read more about this diet here.
Available for Spring, Summer and fall 2011: honey and bee pollen by zip code in Albuquerque and surrounding area.
Where to Purchase:
|
In This Issue
Free Online Newsletter Subscribe
Beehive PoolProtect Against Future Lossof bees and queens
Beekeeping Archives of old, out of print beekeeping books and books on all aspects of gardening, farming and horticulture.
Honey and bee pollen by zip code in Albuquerque and surrounding area.
|
Updated Audio Version
Re: Bees needed for 2010
almond pollination 
Every
April Seeds of Change hosts a Seed Give-away. We invite local home gardeners who
are interested to come to our seed cleaning facility and pick seed from our seed
seconds. These "seconds" are a result of the rigorous seed cleaning process
performed on every seed lot we sell. All Seeds of Change seed goes through this
seed cleaning process to remove any excess chaff, rocks, dirt or other seed
species (such as noxious weeds) from the lot before we send it out to a
certified seed lab to be tested for germination and purity before sale. The seed
seconds are usually comprised of lightweight, immature seed or seed that is
broken or cracked and also inert material such as mentioned above. Since we give
the seconds away free, home gardeners are happy to receive them and don't mind
if the germination rate is lower than that of our number one seed for sale. We
have many gardeners tell us that they planted heavily in their gardens thinking
that not many seeds would germinate and they have had an abundance of very
healthy seedlings to thin.